The New York Times has an interesting article today on the growing number of business travellers who cycle. They takes bikes with them or rent them where they are going.
Included in the article in an interesting statistic:
According to the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey data released last month, there was a 43 percent increase nationally from 2000 to 2008 in people who bike to work regularly, though the numbers are still small: 786,098 last year, compared with 488,497 in 2000.
Incidentally, included in the survey data, is the finding that Philadelphia had the most per capita bicycle commuters of America’s largest cities. Philadelphia has a minuscule 1.6 percent of its commuters traveling by bike, but that percentage is double the number commuting there three years ago and nearly triple the national average of .55 percent.
Slate writer Christopher Beam recently wrote about bicyclists regularly breaking traffic laws - including himself - and the evolution of those laws and the two different philosophies most common among cyclists for whether to follow them. His article, “How do the get bikers to obey traffic laws,” is a good read.
Cyclists usually have to be picked from a lottery of entrants to race the grueling, 100-mile Leadville Trail 100 mountain bike race in Colorado. For one night only, you have the opportunity to see the race up close without breaking a sweat or going most of the way across the country. “Race Across the Sky,” a documentary film shot two months ago, will be shown in select theaters nationwide on Thursday.
The closest theater to Lancaster is the Susquehanna Regal 14 in Harrisburg. The theater is at 1500 Caughey Drive. The single showing is at 8 p.m. The cost of tickets is $12.50.
Featured in the film is seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, who won Leadville during his second attempt in August. Armstrong defeated Dave Wiens, a former professional mountain biker who had won the race for six consecutive years. Two years ago, Weins defeated Lancaster County’s own Floyd Landis, who began his career as a junior mountain biker.
The 1,400 racers each year ride against each other. But, they also ride against the terrain - which rises 14,000 feet and includes heat, but may also include hail and snow at altitude. And, they race against the clock. Those failing to make the 12-hour cut are eliminated. Finishers receive the coveted Leadville belt buckle.
If you want to see the pros race in 2010, you’ll have to start your engines … and expect to drive at least an hour.
The closest professional bicycle races in the National Racing Calendar released last week by the sport’s governing body, USA Cycling, are the Wilmington Grand Prix, in Wilmington, Del. on May 22; the Kelly Cup, in Baltimore,the next day; and the Liberty Classic, in Philadelphia, June 6.
There will be no professional races in Lancaster, Reading, Allentown or Altoona in the coming year.
Professional cyclists last came to Lancaster in 2007, when the last Commerce Bank Tom Bamford Classic race was held. Along with races in Reading and Philadelphia, the series was called the Pennsylvania Triple Crown. The Lancaster race, held each spring for 17 years, moved to Allentown in 2008 after the organizers wanted the race to return to Tuesday afternoon instead of Sunday and a larger financial contribution was sought from the Lancaster officials. Last year, the Allentown and Reading races disappeared completely when money got tight. The Philadelphia race was only held after a public plea was made for last-minute donations and additional corporate sponsors were found.
The forecast for steady rain is prompting organizers of the newly formed League of Lancaster Bicyclists to stay inside on Saturday.
The group will meet at the WOW Wingery in Harrisburg Avenue’s College Row, across from Franklin & Marshall College, at 1:30 p.m. Instead of the planned 45- or 26-mile rides, there will be a video presentation of Lancaster County’s new “Biking the Backroads BicycleTour.” The preview ride was intended to promote the development of additional signed Heritage Bicycle Routes in the county.
Riders attending the event will be entered into a raffle for a $25 gift certificate from a local bicycle shop.
In June, Lancaster’s Intelligencer Journal carried a feature article about Chad Gerlach, a California cyclist of great talent who had abandoned cycling in 2002 when he fell into a life of crack addiction and alcoholism on the streets. After five years, in which he was twice stabbed, Gerlach successfully went through and intervention program and had recovered. He began riding and within months was challenging pros.
The Lancaster article appeared shortly before Gerlach raced in the Race Avenue criterium for the Italian Amore e Vita cycling team. He was narrowly edged out at the line and took second in the pro/1/2/3 race.
Last week, the Sacremento Bee, Gerlach’s hometown newspaper carried an article that the cyclist had again picked up a bottle and was again living on the streets.
Floyd Landis is stretching his cycling season into November with his participation in the Tour of the Southland next month.
Landis, a Lancaster County native, will compete with the five-man cycling-nzshop.com-bioSPORT team in the six-day, nine-stage tour which begins Nov. 2 on New Zealand’s South Island, the Associated Press reported Thursday.
The announcement sparked immediate debate among Kiwis. “Should disgraced cyclist Floyd Landis be allowed on the Tour of Southland,” the New Zealand Herald asks.
Landis won the 2006 Tour de France but was disqualified and banned for two years after testing positive for synthetic testosterone. He returned to cycling at the Tour of California in February.
Race Director Bruce Ross said there had been opposition in some circles to the American’s inclusion in the New Zealand race, which is sanctioned by cycling’s world body, the UCI.
“I’ll be treating his entry like every other entry,” Ross said. “I realize there’s a background. He’s served his time. He’s another entry in the Tour of Southland, a very exciting one, (and) it’s great that he wants to come here.”
Dr. Andy Baldwin and his father, former state Rep. Roy Baldwin, and the rest of their Cross Pennsylvania Health Ride crew will arrive in Lancaster County Thursday afternoon.
Baldwin, of television’s “Bachelor” fame, is doing the 420-mile bike ride to draw attention to the epidemic of childhood obesity. At elementary school assemblies across the state, Baldwin, a triathlete, is promoting exercise, activity and a health diet.
The group will be on day five of their trek when they arrived at Park Elementary School at about 1 p.m. There will be two assemblies and an event at the town’s River Park.
Andy Baldwin is chronicling his journey on his blog.
Cooper, the British car company, which makes the Mini and was a highly successful race car company in the 1950s and 1960s, is launching a bicycle line.
According to British cycling Web site BikeRadar.com, four models are expected to be unveiled next week. Three of those are single-speeds named after Formula One races that Cooper cars won, Monza and Sebring. One is a limited edition and one is a five-speed.
All bikes will feature a flip-flop hub, which accepts both fixed cogs and freewheel. The bikes will also feature Brooks Saddles, Sturmey Archer Cranks, Reynolds Tubing and Tektro Brakes.
The Sebring would sell in the U.K. for 595 pounds, or $946 by today’s exchange rate.
If you want to see the pros race in 2010, you’ll have to start your engines … and expect to drive at least an hour.
Happy birthday to Lancaster County’s Floyd Landis, who turns 34 today.
